


For Losing

by tirsynni



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 15:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11443857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tirsynni/pseuds/tirsynni
Summary: No one realized anything was wrong until the goddess statues began crying.





	For Losing

No one realized anything was wrong until the goddess statues began crying.

Princess Zelda -- soon to be crowned Queen Zelda -- estimated there were a dozen, possibly more, scattered throughout Hyrule. Of course the Rito Village had one, adorned in flowers, because while the rest of Hyrule might forget the Goddesses, the Rito didn’t. Revali knelt at their goddess statue and offered it flowers picked from the mountain. The Elder had encouraged him to give thanks for his miraculous survival, and Revali chose to give thanks to the goddess. The Elder hadn’t  _ specified,  _ after all.

He had the situation under control! He hadn’t needed outside help! True, an outsider might have believed Revali was being defeated, but that was only because he was lulling Ganon’s beast into a false sense of security!

Revali bowed his head, thanked the goddess for the superior skill She had graced him with, and when he looked up again, crimson tears streaked down the goddess’s stone cheeks. 

Revali’s shriek -- sound of  _ alarm _ , to notify the others that something was amiss -- brought half the village running.

At the Elder’s decree, Revali flew to Hyrule Castle. Within hours, others joined him, including Mipha. She nodded stiffly at Revali, who jerked a nod back at her. Then, in silent agreement, they focused on the matter at hand. Revali kept looking behind her, expecting to see Link there, looking foolish in Mipha’s armor. 

The space behind Mipha and Princess Zelda remained conspicuously empty.

Across the land, the statues wept. Blood, the Sheikah Purah declared, like Revali couldn’t smell the sharp copper of it. Purah also announced that it seemed like they all began crying at the same time. They had to find the trigger.

An ill omen, no one said. The words left a gaping, freezing hole in the room. 

The princess looked twice behind her. Her face twisted in frustration but no surprise when the space remained empty. Revali refused to ask. It wasn’t like he  _ cared _ . Besides, Link was probably in Zora’s Domain. If the Zora princess had to make armor, what did the recipient have to do?

It didn’t matter, dammit. Crying goddess statues did.

“Where is the Hero?” Impa asked, and Revali did  _ not _ stand straighter at that. As Champion of the Rito, he had natural fantastic posture.

But why did Mipha look at him when Impa asked that? It wasn’t like Link would be with  _ him _ . Why would he want Link around, anyway?

“He went to the Lost Woods to return the Master Sword,” Princess Zelda said, and things made more sense. “He said it wasn’t necessary anymore.” Of course. Finish that last quest,  _ then _ settle down to play whatever in Zora’s Domain.

Revali hoped that Mipha grew as large as the Zora King. Let Link enjoy  _ that _ happy ending.

Impa grunted and crossed her arms. “This might be connected to the Calamity. We need both the Hero and the Sword.”

Only then did the bad feeling began to creep over Revali, ruffling his feathers. He found himself looking at the empty spot behind each princess. The last time he saw Link, the Hylian knelt beside the princess, bowed head and loose blond hair hiding the bruises on his face and under his eyes. He had been the only one not celebrating. Furious with the thought of how Link would celebrate later with Mipha, Revali had left in a flare of wind and returned home.

He returned to the conversation in time to hear himself volunteered to go with Princess Zelda and Mipha to the Lost Woods. Revali snapped his beak. At least now he could interfere with Link like Link had interfered with him back in Vah Medoh.

It wasn’t like Ganon’s beast would have actually killed Revali or anything.

Within the forest, no wind blew. Still, no one spoke of omens, and the princess used her power to guide them. Revali told himself it was a good thing that there was no creepy laughter trailing their steps, no feeling of mocking eyes watching them as they walked. The atmosphere was worse, the air itself seeming heavy against Revali’s shoulders. He kept his arrow nocked, and neither princess told him to stop. If anything, Princess Zelda’s steps hurried.

Perhaps what they found in that odd tree’s mystical clearing shouldn’t have been a shock. It definitely shouldn’t have been a surprise to Revali’s superior logic and intelligence. Later, he would try to put the pieces together, but for the rest of his life, they refused to click.

Mipha’s scream echoed through the forest. Princess Zelda kept shouting no, no, like it would make any difference. Revali could have told her they wouldn’t. When Hylians were that pale and cold, when there was that much blood, no amount of magic could save them.

Instead, Revali stood at the edge of the clearing and stared at Link’s body, prone beside the Master Sword in its altar. He didn’t listen to that massive tree talk about the Hero’s duty being done and how Link thought he had nothing else to give. 

Instead, Revali thought about when Link killed Ganon’s beast in Vah Medoh and how Revali had screeched at him to go away, how Link had knelt beside Princess Zelda at the celebration and was as mute as ever, even as everyone else cheered.

Instead, he thought about how he never said good-bye, and how Mipha had lost in the end, too.

**Author's Note:**

> It occurred to me that, as horrible as the amnesia and the waking up 100 years later and all of that was for Link, it gave him a fresh start. There was the pressure of saving everyone but no pressure of being the Hylian Champion or dealing with Zelda's jealousy and grief. There was no dealing with anyone being mad at him because his role seemed so easy: just pull the Master Sword. No pressure of duty. How would things have been for Link without that ability to start anew?
> 
> Also, I just wanted to write angst.


End file.
